“The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.”Read the surrounding chapter
Time, place, and setting
- Time
- First century ministry. Composition before or after AD 70 remains debated. 8
- Place
- Galilee and Judaea, with Jerusalem central to the passion and resurrection narratives. The final commission takes place on a Galilean mountain. 1
- Setting
- Jesus teaches, heals and gathers disciples amid Jewish scriptural hope, religious controversy and Roman authority. His death and resurrection lead to a mission to all nations. 1
The events and the written Gospel
Matthew tells the story of Jesus within first century Jewish life under Roman power. Its opening places the birth in the days of Herod the king, and its passion narrative names Pontius Pilate as governor. These notices locate the narrated events, while the time when the Gospel was composed is a separate question. The temple oath discussion has been used to argue for composition before its destruction. 8 That argument is debated; the Gospel gives no explicit date of publication. Both earlier and later proposals need to distinguish what Jesus says within the story from what the narrator’s audience might recognise. 1
Ancient biography provides expectations for a narrative concentrated on a significant person’s life. 18 Matthew’s substantial speeches belong within that narrative rather than replacing it. The relationship between teaching and action helps explain the Gospel’s literary movement. 5 The traditional name Matthew identifies the Gospel’s received authorship, but the narrative does not supply a first person account of its composition. Matthew the publican appears among the Twelve in 10:3. His presence there should be distinguished from a detailed biography of the evangelist, which this Gospel does not provide. 1
Galilee, Judaea and Jerusalem
After John is imprisoned, Jesus withdraws into Galilee and dwells in Capernaum. Matthew 4 quotes Isaiah 9 in connection with the region’s light. Galilee contains villages, crowds, boats and crossings of the sea. Jerusalem draws pilgrims, religious authorities and Roman oversight into the later narrative. Jesus’ journey toward the city gathers growing conflict around the announcement of his suffering and resurrection. At the end, the disciples return to a mountain in Galilee at his instruction. Geography thus contributes to the movement of the story without supplying a complete travel diary. 1
Chapter 13’s public and private settings help organise its teaching. 21 The midsection’s scriptural language can echo Israel’s remembered exodus, with individual proposed allusions requiring contextual testing. 7 Matthew explicitly names Egypt in the childhood account and quotes Hosea 11:1 upon Jesus’ return. Hosea’s chapter remembers the Lord’s care for Israel and its painful unfaithfulness. The Gospel’s use places Jesus within that scriptural history. The relation is clearer when the earlier text retains its own audience and subject, rather than becoming a description of unrelated episodes. Matthew 2 and Hosea 11 belong together here through an actual quotation. 1
Ancestry, households and royal fear
The genealogy begins with Abraham and David and marks the deportation to Babylon. Its annotations make family memory part of the historical presentation. 6 Jesus’ identity is presented through a selective genealogy directed toward scriptural fulfilment. 9 Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, the wife of Urias and Mary appear within this remembered line. The narrative then turns to Joseph’s response to Mary’s pregnancy and the angel’s message. Naming Jesus, receiving Mary and protecting the child are actions within a household shaped by the divine promise. The Gospel does not provide a complete account of every person named in the genealogy. 1
The visitors’ homage contrasts with Herod’s fearful attempt to secure his throne. 20 Herod consults the chief priests and scribes about Bethlehem, while concealing his violent intention from the wise men. Joseph takes the child and his mother into Egypt and returns after Herod’s death. Fear of Archelaus leads him to Galilee. These episodes connect royal power with the vulnerability of a family. Micah 5 supplies Bethlehem’s royal expectation; Jeremiah 31 supplies the language of Rachel’s grief. Reading those chapters keeps their promise and sorrow audible within Matthew’s account. 1
Scripture, righteousness and mercy
The law and the prophets form a shared horizon for Jesus’ teaching and the disputes surrounding him. Matthew 5:17 makes fulfilment an explicit concern. The Sermon’s teaching must be read within Jesus’ announcement of the kingdom. 10 Hearing and doing the Father’s will gives obedience a personal direction toward Jesus. 11 The commandments about murder, adultery and truthful speech are brought into encounters with anger, desire and divided allegiance. Matthew 7 concludes by comparing hearers to builders whose houses face a storm. The story’s question concerns how people respond to the teaching they receive. 1
Scriptural fulfilment in Matthew connects Jesus’ actions with his teaching authority. 12 Hosea 6:6 appears in both the meal with publicans and sinners and the Sabbath controversy. Hosea’s chapter addresses fleeting loyalty and the Lord’s desire for mercy and the knowledge of God. Matthew’s disputes concern interpretation and practice within this scriptural world. Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees and chief priests have different roles in the narrative; they should not be flattened into one undifferentiated historical group. Jesus’ critique of burdens and hypocrisy gives particular actions and claims their significance. 1
Households and the gathered community
The centurion’s appeal shows authority and dependence meeting in an unexpected encounter. The banquet with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob pictures participation in the kingdom. 3 Elsewhere, children are welcomed, a woman seeks help for her daughter, and disciples argue about greatness. Matthew 18 responds with a child, the lost sheep and instructions concerning an offending brother. Witnesses and communal prayer accompany the effort to recover the relationship. 4 Jesus’ presence among those gathered in his name belongs within this communal teaching. 1
The mercy granted to a debtor becomes the measure of his responsibility toward another. 13 In 18:23 to 35, the contrast between debts exposes the servant’s failure to live from the compassion he received. Jesus’ later teaching about divorce also joins interpretation of Scripture with the actual relationship between spouses. The disciples’ surprise makes their own assumptions visible. These chapters are useful historical windows into questions of household, honour, obligation and belonging, but the narrative’s theological purpose remains central: Jesus teaches people how to live before the Father and with one another. 1
Tribute, temple and public challenge
The question about paying tribute attempts to trap Jesus in a dispute with political consequences. Asking for a coin gives his answer a visible focus and limits Caesar’s claim. 19 Matthew 22 places this encounter among questions about resurrection, commandments and David’s son. The temple itself is a place of teaching, confrontation, healing and praise. Psalm 118 connects the arriving figure with blessing and the rejected stone. Its festival language becomes part of Matthew’s royal presentation. 17 These encounters show how scriptural hope, religious authority and public power meet in Jerusalem. 1
Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem follows the denunciations of chapter 23. Chapters 24 and 25 then join the temple’s threatened destruction, difficult signs, endurance, the Son of man and the necessity of faithful readiness. The disciples ask questions that have generated differing interpretations of the discourse’s horizons. The text repeatedly returns to responsibility during delay: the faithful servant, prepared virgins, entrusted servants and care for people in need. A historical reading therefore attends both to Jerusalem’s place in the discourse and to the Gospel’s continuing summons to discipleship. 1
Cross, resurrection and continuing witness
The passion moves through a Passover meal, prayer in Gethsemane, arrest, questioning and execution. Jesus’ cry from Psalm 22 names abandonment within a psalm that also turns toward praise and the nations. Matthew records the burial and the women’s visit before the risen Jesus meets his disciples. The commission joins baptism, teaching and the risen Lord’s authority. 14 The mission to all nations develops alongside the Gospel’s sustained concern for Israel. 15 Its final location in Galilee brings the reader back to the region where Jesus began teaching publicly. 1
The promise of salvation from sins can be compared with Ezekiel’s cleansing and restoration promises. 16 That comparison contributes to Christian reception while preserving the distinct settings of the two books. Acts 1 and 2 describe the risen Lord’s promise of Spirit empowered witness and the Pentecost community’s prayer, proclamation and shared life. First Corinthians 12 to 14 connects gifts with love and edification. In Pentecostal Church of God reading, these actual apostolic contexts help relate Matthew’s commission to active witness, prayer and care in the church today. 1
Sources
Numbered references support the material above. Scripture quotations use the KJV.
- The Holy Bible, King James VersionKing James translators · 1611
Matthew 1 to 28; Genesis 12; Exodus 4 and 24; Deuteronomy 6 and 8; Isaiah 7, 42 and 53; Jeremiah 31; Hosea 6 and 11; Micah 5; Zechariah 9 and 13; Psalms 22 and 118; Ezekiel 36 and 37; Daniel 7; Luke 3 and 24; John 20; Acts 1, 2 and 15; 1 Corinthians 12 to 14; James 5; Greek Matthew 28:16 to 20
View the source - A Greek English Lexicon of the New TestamentJoseph Henry Thayer
Historical entry 3100, complete senses 1 and 2, especially Matthew 28:19
View the source - The Gospel according to St Matthew, Cambridge Bible for Schools and CollegesA. Carr · 1893
Matthew 8:1 to 15; introduction, Authorship of the Gospel
View the source - Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, MatthewHeinrich August Wilhelm Meyer
Matthew 18:15 to 20
View the source - The Structure of the Gospel of Matthew as NarrativeH. J. Bernard Combrink · 1983
Pages 66 to 70 and 87 to 90
View the source - Genealogical Annotation in Genesis as Background for the Matthean Genealogy of JesusJohn Nolland · 1996
Pages 115 to 122
View the source - Exodus Allusions in the Midsection of the Gospel of MatthewCedric E. W. Vine · 2023
Pages 3 to 8 and 21 to 23
View the source - The Oath Formulas of Matthew 23:16 to 22 as Evidence for a Pre 70 Date of Composition for Matthew’s GospelCharles L. Quarles · 2021
Pages 1 to 5 and 20 to 22
View the source - Matthew, Tyndale New Testament CommentaryR. T. France · 1985
Commentary opening and Matthew 1:1 to 17, genealogy
View the source - The nature of the law’s fulfilment in Matthew 5:17: An exegetical and theological studyBradley M. Trout · 2015
Contextual consideration: Literary context, The antitheses, The kingdom of heaven and Fulfilment of the Old Testament
View the source - The fulfilment of the law according to Matthew 5:17: A dialectical approachP. la G. du Toit · 2018
Sections 3 and 4, following Jesus and righteousness
View the source - Fulfilment of Scripture and Jesus’ Teachings in MatthewR. Alan Culpepper · 2015
Fulfilment of Scripture and Jesus’ teaching and narrative authority
View the source - The motive of forgiveness in the Gospel according to MatthewMarius J. Nel · 2015
Narrative, epilogue, historical and internal conflict discussion; conclusion
View the source - The Resurrection Narratives in Matthew’s GospelDavid Wenham · 1973
Pages 49 to 54
View the source - Israel and the Universal Mission in the Gospel of MatthewTae Sub Kim · 2013
Published dissertation summary, pages 153 to 155
View the source - I Will Save My People from Their Sins: The Influence of Ezekiel 36:28b to 29a; 37:23b on Matthew 1:21Nicholas G. Piotrowski · 2013
Pages 36 to 42 and 52 to 54
View the source - Psalm 118 and the Eschatological Son of DavidIan J. Vaillancourt · 2019
Pages 733 to 737
View the source - What Are the Gospels? A Comparison with Graeco Roman BiographyRichard A. Burridge · 2018
Introduction, I.4 to I.8 and I.13 to I.15; preview PDF pages 20 to 24 and 29 to 31
View the source - Show Me the Money: Jesus, Visual Aids, and the Tribute QuestionN. Clayton Croy · 2020
Pages 202 to 206
View the source - Matthew, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New TestamentDavid L. Turner · 2008
Matthew 2:1 to 12, pages 77 to 79 and 85 to 86, licensed preview
View the source - Reading Matthew 13 as a prophetic discourse: The four parables presented in publicJacob J. Scholtz · 2015
Complete article, pages 1 to 7
View the source